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6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
DY Is Back With Another Hit Cd......, June 7, 2007
It's been three years since Daddy Yankee's turbo-charged "Gasolina" roared to the top of the charts and signaled the mainstream arrival of reggaeton, the down-and-dirty Latino rap style cultivated in the urban barrios of Puerto Rico. The revved-up single triggered predictions of a hip-hop crossover and a new Latin music craze.
But the craze never came and the race for a crossover has since been canceled.
Now, Yankee returns with his first full studio album (in stores today) since the charismatic and disciplined rapper was crowned most likely to lead that elusive crossover bid. The Big Boss has thrust his engines in reverse and signaled the genre's new direction: A reggaeton retrenchment.
But not a retreat.
Like a good politician in shaky times, Yankee is playing to his base with 21 tracks that mostly stick to reggaeton's irresistibly bouncy rhythms and chest-thumping themes: sex, partying, nationalism, barrio loyalty and, as the title suggests, brash bragging about who's the best.
The new work gains a little hip-hop/R&B luster with the help of non-reggaeton collaborators such as will.i.am from Black Eyed Peas, Nicole Scherzinger from the Pussycat Dolls and Fergie, who's featured on the first single, "Impacto," produced by Canadian hitmeister Scott Storch.
Yet with the exception of a duet with Akon on the taut, politically defiant "Bring It On," the star power Doe's provide the best moments on a CD that could have been trimmed by a third.
Daddy Yankee (born Ramon Ayala) leaves no doubt that he still has the skill and style that made him stand out from reggaeton's crowded rank-and-file. He wrote or co-wrote every tune, delivering lines with a rat-a-tat torrent of syllables and Caribbean street cadence that makes his Spanish almost unrecognizable at times.
Yankee's rap camouflages in his lyrics, which the wicked wit and schooled artfulness of, say, the young duo Calle 13. But while newer acts test the limits of decency with depravity and foul language, Yankee stakes out high moral ground with unabashed thanks to God for his survival and his success. That spirituality coexists with his barrio bravado in autobiographical tunes such as "Soy Lo Que Soy" and "Coraza Divina."
In the end, Yankee takes on critics and gossipy reporters in the sarcastic, Fresh Prince-styled "Todos Quieren A Raymond" (Everybody Loves Raymond). The title is a play on his real name, which he uses to sign off: "Tell me what the devil I can do if there are bad people/ Just go on being me, Ramon Ayala." (Dime que rayos puedo hacer yo si hay gente mala/ Solamente seguir siendo yo, Ramon Ayala.)
This cd is basically the #1 Prime example for popping this in a Car stereo, Or of course in party's which will get everybody out of their Chair's And Hallucinate while dancing to "El Cartel".
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3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Daddy Yankee no es un cantante pa......Daddy Yankee ES UN MOVIMIENTO!!, June 13, 2007
Get Ready Ladies and gentleman to a whole nother round of beef between Don Omar and "DY". I've waited patiently for this album and came out to be decent, but right off the bat you kno Daddy is lookin for fire and adds more wood with his first Track "Jefe." That Track has such a powerful beat and a lyrical stance sayin he aint goin nowhere, that he is the KING. His cockiness flows all ova the track, but thats what shows he still has it at battling and defending himself.
Alot of tracks on this album catch me production wise, more then lyrically. Reason being, Daddy Yankee is still the same with his quick lyrics on some tracks, which is fine, but much harder to understand now. He seems to stress his accent more and takes pauses before the next word which is annoyin sometimes but like i said the production makes up for it. Example, "En Sus Marcas Listos Fuera" is quick paced like some of his olda tracks with a ridiculous beat that will surely get the parties pumpin. It has such a catchy beat but tryin to hear da words is a struggle. Track 3, "Cambio", another catchy party pumpin beat talkin about people in da club and him cambiando da females. Now the Hottest Reggaeton track here is Fuera De Control, its an infectious beat that gets you perrando to death with a female/male and talks about this shorty who is like no other, who is FUERA DE CONTROL. Now the Lead Single Impacto and its remix are without a doubt infectious tracks dat get you pumped up, but dis is better lyrically cuz he is quick and you understand him more. "Ella Me Levanto" has a hard beat and describes about a shorty dat played him but the next came up and lifted his up world up, strong song without a doubt. "El Celular" has such a decent hip hop beat with a crazy electronic beat that has a tiny trance like flow in da back. He Flows perfectly with this beat and elevates it with his lyrics, its about him callin a shorty, but wats up, her number is disconnected. A song wit a beautiful hip hop beat is "Me Quedaria" whis is more a political in its lyrical content and shows his discontent for somethings, including our immigration problem ova here in da U.S.....ESTAMOS UNIDOS O DIVIDIDOS. Da best hip hop track shows he still has lyrics up his sleave and dats "Todos Quieren a Raymond" which he talks about everyone talkin shit about him but he loves them cuz the talk helps him. It gave him fire for this track.
Daddy Yankee tries to keep dis album solo, to show his lyrical superiority by himself, but Latin hip hop/reggaeton is not about that now a days and often times it hurts the album. I just wished there were other star artist like Wisin & Yandel, Franco "El Gorilla", Rakim & Ken-Y, Tito "El Bambino". I seemed to get this aura from him like its an honor for you to be on his album and you aint worth it right now. This is totally a horrible stance to take in reggaeton it reminds me of 50 cent and dats bad. He has graced everyone elses albums just to prepare himself and get everybody edgy for his album but he lacks collabs. His collab with Akon on "Bring it On" was truely off da hook and more hip hop. Once again the production is top notch on dis track. Impacto with Fergie more commercial in nature, and da one with Nicole in "Papi Lover" is more for da girls if they even like it. The Hottest Collab is with Hector "El Father" called "Tension", and dey both together put people in tense mood, i would like to truely see more collabs with these two....it has a reggaeton and hip hop type flow. Another good Collab was wit Will.I.Am on "Plane to P.R.", its easy to understand and off da hook to bump, trust me.
The overall Feel of this album was excellent for a mostly solo effort, and it hit superbly production wise, considering Scott Storch on a few tracks, but he needed some more of our P.R. DJ's on dis album i think tracks would have been hotter. I left out some tracks cuz they stand ok on their own and its everyones opinion for dis album. Collaborations were too few and 2 of them didnt really need to be on dis album, it lacked some great all stars. This is why i give it 4 out of 5 stars. Honest and true to da core from a fellow Yankee Fan. Lets see if beefs rise and burn harder
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3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
It's not more of the same 'ol thing!!!!, June 6, 2007
I have been listening to this genre since the begining on 1992 out of the "marquesinas" when it used to be called "underground" and artist such as Vico C, DJ Playero, DJ Adam and The Noise were out there selling Casette Tapes. This genre have progress since then, what used to be a form of a bunch of friends hanging out have transform to what we listen on this CD, just like evolution adapt an overcome this genre have adapted to the times. The tracks on this album have different beats that we are not used too in this genre, DY came out fresh adapting his style and this genre to a whole new level. Themes like "Bring it on","Papi Lover", "Plane to P.R." are on a whole new level in this game targeting U.S. audiences. Themes like "El Jefe" brings a new twist to the Genre. If you expect to dance to the rythm of "Dem Bow" you might as well hang it and dont buy the CD, if you were expecting "Gasolina 2" hang it because thats yesterday's news, today's news and tomorrow's will be different. I highly recommend this Album because it means a change in the Genre that in some articles it's been said that people are getting ready for its funeral, hang your Suits people because just like RAP and HIP HOP this genre is here to Stay.
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by Daddy Yankee 
